Brisbane chair hits Seibold’s critics

Brisbane chair Karl Morris has defended coach Anthony Seibold and accused the club’s critics of using the Broncos for personal gain.

Brisbane Broncos Chairman Karl Morris. Picture: AAP

Brisbane chair Karl Morris has taken aim at critics of coach Anthony Seibold and the club on the eve of their derby game against the Gold Coast Titans, claiming they are using their attacks on the Broncos for personal gain.

“Anthony has dealt with the pressure well,” Morris told The Weekend Australian. “He did know it was a different level coming to Brisbane, with the history of success the club has had. He is a product of Rockhampton, one of the rugby league nurseries.

“He has tied his passion of the game with intimate technical knowledge — we believe this to be a winning formula.

“Sadly, we have seen a noisy group who are incentivised (as paid media commentators or paid ambassadors of other clubs, or both) to disrupt us for personal gain. This is sad as many did well out of their time with the Broncos, some move on, some can’t.”

Seibold addressed Morris an the Broncos board on Friday where he spoke about the club’s recent woes and his plans to drag them out of the mire. 

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Morris’s comments resonate this week as the Broncos prepare to face their near neighbours, a club that includes Brisbane legend and former captain Gorden Tallis among its supporters.

Tallis has pledged his allegiance to the Titans and in the process become one of the Broncos’ loudest critics. Only this week, he spoke about his hope that boom Brisbane backrower David Fifita would accept a multimillion-dollar deal to sign with the Gold Coast. The Broncos are doing their best to retain Fifita but they can’t match the Gold Coast for dollars. Instead, they are largely relying on his connection to the club and his faith that he is part of a golden generation that will eventually be rewarded with premierships.

“Recruitment and retention is as much of an art as it is a science,” Morris said. “All clubs receive the same salary cap — it is a very even playing field. The glory days of the Broncos being a bulk of the State of Origin team are well past.

“We develop our own talent and are always at risk of other clubs making offers. David Fifita is an enormous talent.

“He knows what we have done for him as a club and how much we want him to stay. We will do our best to keep him and (Tesi) Nui.”

The Broncos have lost four in succession but Morris insisted all was not lost.

“We started off very well winning our first two games, but post C-19 the team has not adapted to the new rules, poor discipline (penalty count and three suspensions) and injury issues and a few players not playing to their potential has really impacted the Broncos performance,” he said. “Always knew it would take Anthony Seibold and his football (operations) team a few years to sort out player list.

“While the team is fit and well trained, execution and discipline remain issues. Anthony was put on a long-term contract to take the noise out of week-to-week commentary and to have the time to build a team that can win a premiership.

“It has been a few years since we had a team that could do that for the loyal fans who support the team in good and bad times.”